Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday, September 2, 2023 • 7:10 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, New York
RHP Luis Castillo (11-7, 3.01) vs. LHP David Peterson (3-7, 5.23)
SNY

The Mets are undefeated in the Ronny Mauricio era!

Mauricio collected his first hit in his major league debut last night. The ball came off of his bat at 117.3 MPH, which was the hardest-hit ball by a New York Met this year. What a way to start his career. Now the Mets will try to win the series tonight against the Mariners.

Mets Lineup

CF Brandon Nimmo
SS Francisco Lindor
LF Jeff McNeil
1B Pete Alonso
DH Daniel Vogelbach
RF DJ Stewart
3B Mark Vientos
C Omar Narváez
2B Ronny Mauricio

David Peterson will look to build off of his last start this evening. On the season he has pitched in 22 games totaling 84 1/3 innings with a 5.23 ERA, 4.71 FIP, 1.601 WHIP, and an 80 ERA+. His last time out he allowed only one run over seven innings from three hits and three walks while striking out eight batters, his best start in a while. He also threw over 100 pitches for the first time this season. The only current Mariner who has seen Peterson in a major league game is Josh Rojas (1-for-1).

Opposing Lineup

SS J.P. Crawford
CF Julio Rodríguez
3B Eugenio Suárez
DH Teoscar Hernández
C Cal Raleigh
1B Ty France
RF Dylan Moore
LF Sam Haggerty
2B José Caballero

The Mets bats will get a look at Luis Castillo tonight. The long-time Red was traded to the Mariners in the 2022 season. This year over 27 starts, 164 1/3 innings he has a 3.01 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.004 WHIP (league-leading), and a 136 ERA+. It makes sense that in addition to leading the league in WHIP, he is also leading the league in H/9 at 7.0. Over his last two starts, Castillo has held opponents to only one run from six hits while striking out 15 batters over 14 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

  • Omar Narváez 5-23, HR, 5 K, 2 BB
  • Daniel Vogelbach 1-9, HR, 3 K, 5 BB
  • Rafael Ortega 2-9, 3 K, 3 BB
  • Brandon Nimmo 0-4, K, 2 BB
  • Pete Alonso 0-5, 2 K
  • Francisco Lindor 3-6, 2 2B
  • Jeff McNeil 3-6, HR

Game Notes

Mauricio made his MLB debut last night and smashed a 117.3 mph double to right field in his first at-bat. It was the hardest-hit ball by a Met this season and the fourth-hardest-hit ball by a Met in the Statcast Era (Since 2015). It is the hardest-hit first career hit by any player to debut since the Statcast Era began.

Per Anthony DiComo, Grant Hartwig is up from Triple-A Syracuse. To make room on the roster, Denyi Reyes was optioned.

The Mets have claimed right-handed pitcher Peyton Battenfield off waivers. The 26-year-old starter had a 5.27 ERA in the majors this year. He has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. The Mets collected hits last night. The Mets only scored two runs, but they did have nine hits on the night, which is a good sign for a team that has been struggling of late. Mauricio was the only player who collected two hits and he was joined by seven other players who collected one hit. Can the Mets string hits together tonight to score more runs?
  2. Vientos playing time. With all of the baby Mets up right now there’s going to be a squeeze on playing time for someone. For the Mets’ future development, it makes the most sense to have Vientos as a DH and sit Vogelbach. Vogelbach, however, is one of the hottest hitters on the team right now, emphasized by his go-ahead RBI last night. Baty, Vientos, and Vogelbach will probably enter an interesting timeshare of third base and DH duties. We’ll see how this continues throughout the weekend.
  3. The bullpen is well-rested! The Mets really needed to use their bullpen on Wednesday, with Jeff Brigham, Sean Reid-Foley, and Adam Ottavino each throwing over 25 pitches. The only pitchers not used on Wednesday were Phil Bickford and Drew Smith, who both had solid outings for the Mets last night. Reid-Foley has yet to allow a run this season and came out unscathed on Wednesday after walking three batters.

Let’s go Mets!